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1 FINAL North Atlantic Right Whale Recovery Strategy [FINAL] June 2009 Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series Recovery Strategy for the North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) in Atlantic Canadian Waters. North Atlantic Right Whale June 2009

2 About the Species at Risk Act (SARA) Recovery Strategy Series What is the Species at Risk Act (SARA)? SARA is the Act developed by the federal government as a key contribution to the common national effort to protect and conserve species at risk in Canada. SARA came into force in 2003 and one of its purposes is to provide for the recovery of wildlife species that are extirpated, endangered or threatened as a result of human activity. What is recovery? In the context of species at risk conservation, recovery is the process by which the decline of an endangered, threatened or extirpated species is arrested or reversed, and threats are removed or reduced to improve the likelihood of the species persistence in the wild. A species will be considered recovered when its long-term persistence in the wild has been secured. What is a recovery strategy? A recovery strategy is a planning document that identifies what needs to be done to arrest or reverse the decline of a species. It sets goals and objectives and identifies the main areas of activities to be undertaken. Detailed planning is done at the action plan stage. Recovery strategy development is a commitment of all provinces and territories and of three federal agencies Environment Canada, Parks Canada Agency and Fisheries and Oceans Canada under the Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk. Sections of SARA spell out both the required content and the process for developing recovery strategies published in this series (http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/approach/act/default_e.cfm). Depending on the status of the species and when it was assessed, a recovery strategy has to be developed within one to two years after the species is added to the List of Wildlife Species at Risk. Three to four years is allowed for those species that were automatically listed when SARA came into force. What s next? In most cases, one or more action plans will be developed to define and guide implementation of the recovery strategy. Nevertheless, directions set in the recovery strategy are sufficient to begin involving communities, land users, and conservationists in recovery implementation. Cost-effective measures to prevent the reduction or loss of the species should not be postponed for lack of full scientific certainty. The series This series presents the recovery strategies prepared or adopted by the federal government under SARA. New documents will be added regularly as species get listed and as strategies are updated. To learn more To learn more about the Species at Risk Act and recovery initiatives, please consult the SARA Public Registry (http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/).

3 Recovery Strategy for the North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) in Atlantic Canadian Waters [FINAL] June 2009

4 Recommended citation: Brown, M.W., Fenton, D., Smedbol, K., Merriman, C., Robichaud-Leblanc, K., and Conway, J.D Recovery Strategy for the North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) in Atlantic Canadian Waters [Final]. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. vi + 66p. Additional copies: You can download additional copies from the SARA Public Registry (http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/) Cover illustration: The cover illustration depicts a female North Atlantic right whale known as Arpeggio, catalogue number Born in 1997, Arpeggio is a poster child for what right whales do, what they are exposed to, and what tools researchers use to learn about their life history and the threats facing their recovery. She has ranged from the calving ground along the coast of eastern Florida to the Bay of Fundy and has been photographed in each year of her life in several different habitat areas. She was entangled briefly in 1999 at the age of 2½, and survived a hit by a small vessel at the age of eight. She has been exposed to almost every type of research: tagging to learn about dive profiles and response to sound playback, skin sampling to learn about her genetic profile, and ultrasound measurements to assess her health. She has recently had her first calf on the calving grounds in Florida. Cover illustration credit: Scott Landry, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies Également disponible en français sous le titre «Programme de rétablissement de la baleine noire (Eubalaena glacialis) de l Atlantique Nord dans les eaux canadiennes de l'atlantique» Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, All rights reserved. ISBN ( ) Catalogue no. (As E3-4/ E-PDF) Content (excluding the cover illustration) may be used without permission, with appropriate credit to the source.

5 PREFACE The North Atlantic right whale is a marine mammal and is under the responsibility of the federal government. The Species at Risk Act (SARA, Section 37) requires the competent minister to prepare recovery strategies for listed extirpated, endangered and threatened species. The was listed as Endangered under SARA in January The development of this recovery strategy was led by Fisheries and Oceans Canada Maritimes Region, in cooperation and consultation with many individuals and organizations, as indicated below. The strategy meets SARA requirements in terms of content and process (Sections 39-41). Success in the recovery of this species depends on the commitment and cooperation of many different constituencies that will be involved in implementing the directions set out in this strategy and will not be achieved by Fisheries and Oceans Canada or any other party alone. This strategy provides advice to jurisdictions and organizations that may be involved or wish to become involved in the recovery of the species. In the spirit of the National Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans invites all responsible jurisdictions and Canadians to join Fisheries and Oceans Canada in supporting and implementing this strategy for the benefit of the North Atlantic right whale and Canadian society as a whole. Fisheries and Oceans Canada will support implementation of this strategy to the extent possible, given available resources and its overall responsibility for species at risk conservation. The goals, objectives and recovery approaches identified in the strategy are based on the best existing knowledge and are subject to modifications resulting from new information. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans will report on progress within five years. This strategy will be complemented by one or more action plans that will provide details on specific recovery measures to be taken to support conservation of the species. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans will take steps to ensure that, to the extent possible, Canadians interested in or affected by these measures will be consulted. RESPONSIBLE JURISDICTIONS Under the Species at Risk Act, Fisheries and Oceans Canada is the responsible jurisdiction for the North Atlantic right whale. AUTHORS This document was written by Moira Brown, Derek Fenton, Kent Smedbol, Cathy Merriman, Kimberly Robichaud-LeBlanc and Jerry Conway in cooperation with the Right Whale Recovery Implementation Team (see Recovery Team Members list). i

6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS DFO acknowledges all participants of the Recovery Team for their dedicated efforts in providing information, expertise and perspectives in the development of this recovery strategy. The National Recovery Plan prepared by the Right Whale Recovery Team for the World Wildlife Fund Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in 2000 (WWF/DFO 2000) provided the foundation for the development of this document. DFO is grateful to the drafting team (see Authors ) who further revised the document as per SARA Recovery Strategy content requirements and updated with new information since the publication of the 2000 Plan. Additionally, DFO acknowledges the invaluable input provided by the broader interested public in the consultation process (see Appendix C for a record of consultations). STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is conducted on all SARA recovery planning documents, in accordance with the Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals. The purpose of a SEA is to incorporate environmental considerations into the development of public policies, plans, and program proposals to support environmentally sound decision making. Recovery planning is intended to benefit species at risk and biodiversity in general. However, it is recognized that strategies may also inadvertently lead to environmental effects beyond the intended benefits. The recovery planning process based on national guidelines directly incorporates consideration of all environmental effects, with a particular focus on possible impacts on non-target species or habitats. The results of the SEA are incorporated directly in the strategy itself, but are also summarized below. This recovery strategy will clearly benefit the environment by promoting the recovery of the North Atlantic right whale. The potential for the strategy to inadvertently lead to adverse effects on other species was considered; however, because the recovery objectives recommend additional research on the species and education and outreach initiatives, the SEA concluded that this strategy will clearly benefit the environment and will not entail any significant adverse effects. RESIDENCE SARA defines residence as: a dwelling-place, such as a den, nest or other similar area or place, that is occupied or habitually occupied by one or more individuals during all or part of their life cycles, including breeding, rearing, staging, wintering, feeding or hibernating [SARA S2(1)]. ii

7 Residence descriptions, or the rationale for why the residence concept does not apply to a given species, are posted on the SARA public registry: iii

10 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Schedule of studies for North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters to target knowledge gaps on habitat requirements Table 2. List of general indicators of progress to assist in determining the extent that recovery is being achieved. Each set of indicators corresponds to a specific recovery objective for North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters Figure 1: Western Atlantic range and present day distribution of the North Atlantic right whale. Critical habitat areas in U.S. waters are those areas formally designated under the U.S. Endangered Species Act Figure 2: Canadian range of the North Atlantic right whale: This map is based on individual right whale sightings from the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium , the St. Andrews Biological Station whale sightings database and the DFO Newfoundland Region whale sighting database Dots indicate North Atlantic right whale sightings (with U.S. waters data removed) and the red dotted lines are the boundaries of the exclusive economic zone of Canada, the United States and St. Pierre and Miquelon (France) Figure 3: Schematic depicting an adult and calf North Atlantic right whale and key physical features Figure 4: Boundary of North Atlantic right whale SARA Critical Habitat for Grand Manan Basin Figure 5: Boundaries of North Atlantic right whale SARA Critical Habitat for Roseway Basin vi

11 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is a large (up to 17 m) whale, generally black in colour with occasional white belly patches and no dorsal fin. Right whales were once common in temperate waters of the Western Atlantic but were seriously depleted by whaling. An accurate population estimate for the species is yet to be calculated. The population of North Atlantic right whales in Atlantic Canadian waters was estimated in 2003 to number about 322 animals; however more recent estimates suggest the current population numbers about 350 animals. North Atlantic right whales are protected and listed under Schedule 1, Part 2 of the Species at Risk Act (SARA). A migratory animal, the North Atlantic right whale travels along the east coast of North America primarily from eastern Florida to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland. The role of Canada in protecting North Atlantic right whales and promoting their recovery is crucial because a very high proportion of the extant population spends all or part of the summer and autumn months in Canadian waters. In particular North Atlantic right whales are observed feeding and socializing in the lower Bay of Fundy and in Roseway Basin on the western Scotian Shelf. The Bay of Fundy has been regularly monitored annually since 1980 by researchers. North Atlantic right whales feed on a variety of organisms but seem to depend most heavily on the copepod Calanus finmarchicus. Since whaling ended the most obvious threats that are potentially depressing the growth rate of the North Atlantic right whale population are strikes by vessels and entanglements in fixed fishing gear. Most of the areas heavily used by right whales in the western North Atlantic are in or near major shipping lanes serving ports in the eastern United States and Canada. There are stewardship measures, such as avoiding areas of whale aggregation, that have helped reduce the threat of vessel strikes in Canadian waters. It has been shown that the types of fishing gear most often implicated in North Atlantic right whale entanglements are the vertical and horizontal lines used in fixed gear fisheries (i.e. gillnets and pot gear). Active emergency response and\or disentanglement programs exist in both Canada and the United States, although the program is broader in scope and funding in the United States. Habitat degradation may also be contributing to the North Atlantic right whale population s failure to recover more rapidly. The migratory and pelagic habits of the species present a significant challenge to fully implement all recovery strategies. Recovery of the North Atlantic right whale will require significant international coordination and cooperation to mitigate the negative impacts of human activities across the species range. In February 2007, DFO Science conducted a Recovery Potential Assessment (RPA) for right whales in the western North Atlantic which resulted in Grand Manan Basin in the Bay of Fundy being delineated as critical habitat for the species under SARA. This area has been recognized previously as an important area for North Atlantic right whale aggregation with the designation of the Bay of Fundy Right Whale Conservation Area. Roseway Basin, on the southwestern Scotian Shelf, another important area of North Atlantic right whale aggregation, is also a designated conservation area. Although insufficient data was available during the RPA to determine whether this area also constitutes critical habitat for the species, initial results from research initiated following the RPA support the conclusion that Roseway Basin meets the 1

12 criteria as critical habitat for right whales and therefore it has been identified as critical habitat in the recovery strategy. Provisional boundaries have been selected to match the Area To Be Avoided (ATBA) designated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO; see section 2.7.1). A schedule of studies is outlined to complete the research activities initiated to refine the boundaries of Roseway Basin critical habitat for right whales. The lack of firm estimates of historical abundance means that a long-term population target cannot yet be determined. However, current knowledge of the status and trends in this population can be used to develop the interim Recovery Goal: To achieve an increasing trend in population abundance over three generations. To begin to achieve an increasing trend in population abundance of North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters the following recovery objectives and respective strategies will need to be implemented: 1. Reduce mortality and injury as a result of vessel strikes; 2. Reduce mortality and injury as a result of fishing gear interactions (entanglement and entrapment); 3. Reduce injury and disturbance as a result of vessel presence or exposure to contaminants and other forms of habitat degradation; 4. Monitor population and threats; 5. Increase understanding of life history characteristics, low reproductive rate, habitat and threats to recovery through research; 6. Support and promote collaboration for recovery between government agencies, academia, environmental non-government groups, Aboriginal groups, coastal communities and international agencies and bodies; 7. Develop and implement education and stewardship activities that promote recovery. There are a number of threat mitigation and research efforts currently underway that contribute to meeting these objectives (see Section 2.7 Actions Completed or Underway). However, there remains a number of gaps in our knowledge about the North Atlantic right whale in Canadian waters including in the areas of biology and ecology, habitat requirements, and additional potential threats. While there has been significant progress in narrowing knowledge gaps in recent years, it is widely accepted that research efforts must continue and increase. The need for consistent resources and dedicated partners to address knowledge gaps, implement recovery strategies and respond to North Atlantic right whale emergencies is important to the success of the program and an ongoing challenge. Following the adoption of this recovery strategy under SARA, action plans for the North Atlantic right whale will be developed. Completion of the evaluation of Roseway Basin critical habitat in order to refine its boundaries will be a high priority to address in an action plan following the finalization of this Recovery Strategy. Addressing potential interactions with fishing gear has also been identified as a high priority for action planning. 2

13 INTRODUCTION Right whales (Eubalaena spp), once common in temperate waters of all the world s oceans, were seriously depleted globally by eight centuries of whaling (IWC 1986). Today, the populations in the North Atlantic (E. glacialis) and North Pacific (E. japonica) ( northern right whales) are in danger of extinction, while some populations in the southern hemisphere, E. australis, ( southern right whales) are showing signs of a strong recovery (IWC 2001b). Two species of right whale occur in Canadian waters, E. japonica in the Pacific and E. glacialis in the Atlantic. This recovery strategy will only address North Atlantic right whales, estimated to number individuals (COSEWIC 2003). The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is a large (up to 17 m) whale, generally black in colour with occasional white belly patches and no dorsal fin. A migratory animal, the North Atlantic right whale travels along the east coast of North America primarily from eastern Florida to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland. The role of Canada in protecting North Atlantic right whales and promoting their recovery is crucial because a very high proportion of the extant population spends all or part of the summer and autumn months in Canadian waters. North Atlantic right whales are listed as Endangered under Schedule I, Part 2 of SARA, which results in legal protection and mandatory recovery requirements, which are administered by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). This recovery strategy summarizes the best available information on the biology and status of the North Atlantic right whale, and reflects our current knowledge about this animal and the need for cooperation and coordination in its recovery. The recovery strategy will be accompanied by one or more action plans (produced as a separate document), also a requirement under SARA. Action plans list the measures that are to be taken over the next 5 years to implement the recovery strategy. It is intended that this strategy will provide a mechanism to work toward minimizing threats to North Atlantic right whales both nationally and internationally, and will eventually result in their recovery. This recovery strategy builds on the substantial efforts by the North Atlantic right whale recovery team, which was established in 1997, sponsored by World Wildlife Fund Canada and DFO, and formed to bring together the various experts and interests involved in the conservation of the species. This resulted in the production of a comprehensive recovery plan (WWF/DFO 2000) that provides a foundation for this document. 1 Represents number of catalogued North Atlantic right whales thought to be alive in 2003 (COSEWIC 2003). A precise population estimate for the species is yet to be calculated, however, more recent estimates suggest a population abundance of approximately 350 animals (Kraus and Rolland 2007, NMFS 2005). 3

14 1. BACKGROUND 1.1. Status Canadian Species Assessment Information from COSEWIC Common name: North Atlantic Right Whale Scientific name: Eubalaena glacialis Last Examination and Change: May 2003 Status: Endangered Canadian Occurrence: Atlantic Ocean Reason for Designation: The species, found only in the North Atlantic, was heavily reduced by whaling. The total population currently numbers about 322 animals (about mature animals), has been decreasing during the last decade (1990s), and is experiencing high mortality from ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. A sophisticated demographic model gives an estimated mean time to extinction of 208 years. Status History: The right whale was considered a single species and designated Endangered in Status re-examined and confirmed in April 1985 and in April Split into two species in May 2003 to allow a separate designation of the North Atlantic right whale. North Atlantic right whale was designated Endangered in May Last assessment based on an updated status report Global Status in the United States (U.S.) In U.S. waters, the North Atlantic right whale (originally jointly listed with the North Pacific right whale as northern right whale) was first protected in June 1970 by the Endangered Species Conservation Act, which was the precursor to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The species was subsequently listed as endangered under the ESA since its passage in In the same year, the species was designated as endangered and depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). 4

15 Mandated under the ESA, in 1991 the U.S. Department of Commerce published a Recovery Plan for the Northern Right Whale (including both the North Atlantic and North Pacific right whale), which reviewed knowledge about natural history and human impacts, along with an outline of steps needed to reduce the risks of extinction and enhance the prospects of population recovery (NMFS 1991). The NMFS revised the 1991 plan and developed a separate recovery plan for the North Atlantic right whale population in 2005 (NMFS 2005). Under the ESA and MMPA, the NMFS produces annual stock assessments, which include for each stock the allowable potential biological removal (PBR) level. The current PBR for the North Atlantic right whale population is zero whales per year. Under U.S. law, critical habitat of endangered species must be designated and given special protection. Three areas were officially designated in 1994 as critical habitat under the ESA for the North Atlantic right whale population: Great South Channel and Cape Cod Bay (both in the southern Gulf of Maine) and the nearshore calving ground off northern Florida and Georgia (Figure 1). International status All right whales have been protected from commercial whaling since 1935, and further protected under the International Whaling Commission (IWC) since Globally, the right whale was listed as endangered and receives protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). For countries that are signatories to the Convention, including Canada, CITES is an international agreement to ensure that trade in products derived from wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Right whales were listed as endangered by CITES in 1975 in Appendix 1, which consists of species threatened with extinction; trade of such species is only permitted under exceptional circumstances Distribution Global Range The known historical range of right whales, based on whaling records, included a large area of the eastern seaboard of North America. This area extended from northern Florida along the coast to the waters of Atlantic Canada (Figure 1), east to southern Greenland, Iceland, and Norway, and south along the European coast to northwestern Africa (IWC 1986, Mead 1986, Mitchell et al. 1986, Reeves and Mitchell 1986). Since the 1920s, sightings in the eastern North Atlantic have been sporadic (e.g., in the Canaries, Madeira, Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom, Iceland, and Norway), (Brown 1986, Martin and Walker 1997). In the western North Atlantic, right whales once occurred from Florida to Labrador, including the Strait of Belle Isle and Gulf of St. Lawrence (Aguilar 1986, Reeves et al. 1999, Reeves 2001). Prior to the 1930s they were also encountered and hunted during the summer in pelagic waters, particularly near the eastern edge of the Grand Bank and in an area 5

16 directly east and southeast of Cape Farewell, the southern tip of Greenland (Reeves and Mitchell 1986). Figure 1: Western Atlantic range and present day distribution of the North Atlantic right whale. Critical habitat areas in U.S. waters are those areas formally designated under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. (Prepared by K. Lagueux, New England Aquarium). 6

17 Canadian Range Two of the five known high-use habitat areas for this species are located in Atlantic Canada (Figures 1 and 2) with the other three located in the U.S. (Figure 1). In the summer and autumn, North Atlantic right whales are observed suckling, feeding, and socializing in the lower Bay of Fundy between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and feeding and socializing in Roseway Basin between Browns and Baccaro Banks on the western Scotian Shelf (Stone et al. 1988, Kraus and Brown 1992, Brown et al. 1995). The Bay of Fundy has been monitored annually since 1980 by researchers from the New England Aquarium (NEAq, Boston, Massachusetts). Monitoring of Roseway Basin has been more sporadic with surveys occurring in , , and by the NEAq and other research groups. In addition, there are several other areas of Atlantic Canadian waters where North Atlantic right whales have been seen (Figure 2). For example, North Atlantic right whales have been sighted in deep basins on the eastern Scotian Shelf (Mitchell et al. 1986; T. Cole, personal communication 2 ), in the St. Lawrence Estuary near the confluence of the Saguenay River in 1998 (R. Michaud, pers. comm.), near the Mingan Islands off the lower north shore of Quebec in 1994, 1995, and 1998 (R. Sears, pers. comm.), and more than 30 different individuals over a decade near the mouth of the Baie des Chaleurs south of the Gaspé Peninsula in , and (N. Cadet, J.F. Blouin pers. comm.). A dead North Atlantic right whale was found near the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2001 (NEAq unpublished data), and in the same year an entangled North Atlantic right whale was tracked with a satellite-monitored transmitter along the eastern Scotian Shelf into the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Magdalen Islands and back to the Scotian Shelf, then south into the Gulf of Maine (Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, unpublished data). Photographed sightings of North Atlantic right whales during the summer months from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Gaspé Peninsula, and Labrador Basin, (Knowlton et al. 1992) have been matched to individuals in the identification catalogue for the North Atlantic right whale (Hamilton and Martin 1999). North Atlantic right whales have not been sighted for more than a century in the historical whaling grounds in the Strait of Belle Isle between Labrador and Newfoundland. Here the species range is believed to have overlapped that of the bowhead whale (Aguilar 1986, Cumbaa 1986). Recent analyses of DNA extracted from bone indicate that, contrary to what was previously believed, a very high proportion of the whales taken by the Basque whalers at Red Bay, Labrador, were bowheads (Balaena mysticetus) rather than North Atlantic right whales (Rastogi et al. 2004). 2 Institutional affiliation for personal communications can be found at end of the References section. 7

18 Figure 2: Canadian range of the North Atlantic right whale: This map is based on individual North Atlantic right whale sightings from the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium , the St. Andrews Biological Station whale sightings database and the DFO Newfoundland Region whale sighting database Dots indicate North Atlantic right whale sightings (with U.S. waters data removed) and the red dotted lines are the boundaries of the exclusive economic zone of Canada, the United States and St. Pierre and Miquelon (France). (Prepared by Oceans and Coastal Management Division, DFO) 8

19 1.3. Legal Protection North Atlantic right whales are listed under Schedule 1, Part 2 of the Species at Risk Act (SARA), and therefore the SARA provisions against the killing, harming, harassing, capturing, taking, possessing, collecting, buying, selling, or trading of individuals or its parts (SARA section 32) and the damage or destruction of its residence (SARA section 33) apply directly to this species. A rationale for not providing a residence description for the North Atlantic right whale has been developed (DFO 2007, Smedbol 2007). Once identified, prohibitions will also be in place against the destruction of the species critical habitat (SARA section 58), where critical habitat is defined under section 2 of the Act as the habitat necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species and that is identified as the species critical habitat in the recovery strategy or in an action plan. Section 1.9 will address critical habitat as it relates to North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters. In addition to SARA, other federal statutes that offer legal protection for North Atlantic right whales and their habitat in Canada include the 1985 Fisheries Act (under Marine Mammal Regulations and a series of habitat protection provisions) administered by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. The Marine Mammal Regulations give North Atlantic right whales legal protection from disturbance and deliberate killing, while the habitat protection provisions of the Fisheries Act prohibit works or undertakings that would cause the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat, including the habitat of marine animals General Biology and Description Name and classification Class: Order: Family: Species: Mammalia Cetacea Balaenidae Eubalaena glacialis Common species names English: North Atlantic Right Whale French: Baleine noire de l'atlantique Nord or baleine franche Taxonomic status A 1998 International Whaling Commission (IWC) workshop recommended using Eubalaena (the right whales) as a separate genus. The IWC Scientific Committee, after considering genetic and morphological data, decided at its 2000 annual meeting to accept Rosenbaum et al. s (2000) analysis and proposed nomenclature. It was agreed to retain the generic name Eubalaena for right whales, and to recognize three species, E. glacialis in the North Atlantic, E. japonica in the North Pacific and E. australis in the southern hemisphere (IWC 2001a). 9

20 The population structure of right whales in the North Atlantic is poorly understood. A right whale workshop hosted by the IWC provisionally divided the North Atlantic (for statistical purposes) into eastern and western sectors and proposed to treat the area off Cape Farewell (60-62ºN, 33-35ºW) separately. However, photographs of identifiable individuals in the western North Atlantic have been matched with photographs of individuals in the Labrador Basin southsoutheast of Greenland and off Norway (Knowlton et al. 1992, IWC 2001b). Given what is currently known about right whale movements and distribution, it is perhaps reasonable to continue to view the whales in the eastern and western North Atlantic as separate stocks while recognizing that these animals are highly mobile and sometimes move far outside their wellknown habitats in the western North Atlantic (Knowlton et al. 1992, Reeves 2001) Physical description Right whales are large, relatively rotund whales, with square chins and a generally black colouration with occasional white belly and chin patches and no dorsal fin (Figure 3). They grow to about 17 m in length, with adult females averaging about 1 m larger than adult males (Allen 1908, Andrews 1908). Adult right whales weigh approximately metric tones. A blubber layer up to 20 cm thick serves for both energy storage and insulation (Angell 2005). The head is about 25% of the total body length in adults, up to 35% in juveniles. A strongly arched, narrow rostrum and strongly bowed lower jaws are characteristic of the species. Gray or black roughened patches of skin, called callosities, are found on the rostrum, behind the blowholes, over the eyes, on the corners of the chin, and variably along the lower lips and jaws (Figure 3). The callosity pattern is unique to each right whale and is used by researchers to identify individuals (Crone and Kraus 1990, Hamilton and Martin 1999, Kraus et al. 1986a). Callosities appear light yellow or cream coloured due to infestations of cyamid crustaceans commonly called whale lice. Baleen plates are black or brown, number 205 to 270 on each side, average 2 to 2.8 m in length, and are relatively narrow (up to 18 cm wide) with fine hair-like fringes facing the interior of the mouth. There are no grooves along the throat. The tail flukes are broad, measuring up to 6 m from tip to tip. In the field, when seen along the axis of the animal, the blow is distinctly V-shaped and can reach 7 m in height. 10

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